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Summary Chapter 3: We get a little back story on the O'Hara family in this chapter. Ellen O'Hara is a great lady from a respected family in Savannah. The love of her life was her cousin, Philippe, until his untimely death in a New Orleans brawl. Blaming her family for driving him away, she agreed to marry Gerald O'Hara or enter a nunnery. Neither knowing, nor caring about the reason for Ellen's acceptance of his proposal, Gerald has counted himself as incredibly lucky ever since. Gerald, we discover, is a self-made man after his flight from legal troubles in Ireland. His luck also brought him Tara in a card game, but it was his honest hard work that built it into a proper, and successful, plantation.
Katiebug's Response: What I find most interesting is the description of Ellen's "quiet voice" that's "obeyed instantly" where Gerald's is disregarded. We learn that both Gerald and Ellen are well loved in the neighborhood for their friendly and generous natures. Gerald is kind of heart, loud of mouth, and free with his pocket book. While Ellen ministers to the sick and devotes herself as she would have done in the nunnery. I dislike the way she talks about a woman job in a marriage, it's like she's settling or giving up. SammiDrake's Response: So you definitely should NOT marry someone who's into their cousins and is very different from you. Definitely don't marry that type of person . . . oh wait. I found it kind of hypocritical for Gerald to tell Scarlett in Chapter 2 that Ashely is a lame-o she need not waste her time on because suitors will not want her if she's hung up on a lame guy. But wait, how did he score his hot wife again? Also, let's talk about the creepy factor of his wife was 16 when he married her . . . he's what, a year short of collecting his senior citizen discount, right? Regardless, this chapter was more backstory which is great and wonderful - but I'm ready for the story already.
I felt like that's a reflection of the times for Ms Mitchell. During the 1930s that was how women saw marriage (you see a lot of that until women's lib).
ReplyDeleteHaven't you ever heard of a thing called "women's lib?" It means women get everything they want.
But it's also weird, because Ellen seems to RUN everything. Yes, Gerald makes the money but Ellen takes care of the books. She deals with the day to day problems on the plantation.
ReplyDeleteI also found it slightly creepy that Gerald was so much older than Ellen. But it fits with that traditional idea that a man pursues his career and when he's able to support a family he gets one. Perhaps Mitchell is setting this up as the Pre-Civil War ideal and then we'll see how Scarlett's generation deals with it?
Perhaps. But also I think that's the same thinking that goes into "behind every great man is a great woman" mentality.
ReplyDeleteSure Gerald is great, but we all know who REALLY runs the house.
To go further with Scarlett's generation, I don't think they'll be different as much as I think it's used to illustrate just how different Scarlett herself is.
I can definitely agree with that. Especially given the ending of Chaper 4.
ReplyDelete